


Thanks for the floorspace

by justAperidot



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Lucifer's Cage, M/M, a quick mention of rape but it doesn't happen, but not from lucifer, lucifer is all about consent, lucifer's cage is not his torture dungeon he suffered too ffs, mentions of torture, pink wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-06-10 03:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6938074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justAperidot/pseuds/justAperidot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam didn’t want to open his eyes. Why would he? Why would he want to see the darkest part of hell? Why would he want to see Lucifer´s and Michael´s rage? Why would he want to see his little brother trapped in this nightmare, the nightmare he dragged him into?<br/>But the rage never comes...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thanks for the floorspace

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a Cage!fic after seeing this post: http://casclarenceunicorn.tumblr.com/post/82097961528/i-was-looking-at-this-scene-while-video-editing

Sam didn’t want to open his eyes. Why would he? Why would he want to see the darkest part of hell? Why would he want to see Lucifer´s and Michael´s rage? Why would he want to see his little brother trapped in this nightmare, the nightmare he dragged him into?

But he had to. He couldn’t ignore his situation forever, because he wasn´t getting out any time soon. He wasn’t getting out at all. He had to protect himself as best as he could, had to protect Adam. And maybe, just maybe, he had to find a way to get out. Just to amuse himself, really.

What finally made him open his eyes with an earsplitting scream was the feeling of an impossibly hot rod trailing down his back.

He didn’t know what he was expecting. Flames? A gigantic cave? A cartoonish devil with red skin, horns, and a tail? With different combinations of elements, his mind had only put together an impossible landscape. Instead, he got something almost… earthly. Four walls, a floor, and a ceiling, all made of the same rusted metal caked in dried blood. The cage was tall enough for the hunter to stand comfortably (and that was quite a statement, considering his height). It was as big as a crappy motel room, and logically, there was nothing resembling a door or exit hatch in sight.

“It´s a projection, you know. To make it more… _tolerable_ to your human mind.” Lucifer was standing a few feet in front of him, leaning on the wall to Sam´s right. He was wearing Nick´s face again, but the scorch marks and scars were gone. He looked too human to the Winchester´s liking. “The real thing would melt your eyes and soul before you could even wrap your mind around what you´re seeing.”

The devil´s eyes slowly broke away from Sam´s and shifted to the opposite corner. The brunet followed his gaze. Adam was curled up there, his chest barely rising and falling. He was still alive. The hunter was pretty sure that was worse.

“Michael is still inside him,” Lucifer explained softly. “I can´t tell who is in charge.” Almost casually, the Morning Star walked up to Sam and slid down until they were sitting side by side.

Sam tensed and waited for Lucifer´s next blow. The devil´s “I would never hurt you” promise was probably worth squat now that Sam had shoved him back into imprisonment, as had been proved by whatever he had felt on his back a couple of minutes ago.

“It wasn’t me.”

“Huh?” the young Winchester asked a bit stupidly.  

“What you felt. It´s part of the charm.” Lucifer laughed bitterly. “They´ve gotten me more than once, they got you, and they will surely get Michael´s new meatsuit. They are impossible to block and most importantly: random. You can scrape by a couple of hours without a scratch, then withstand a day of hot coals, then rest merrily for fifteen minutes, and then get a week´s worth of sledgehammers to the ribs.” As if to prove his point, Lucifer threw his head back, teeth ground and fists clenching and unclenching on his lap. Sam found himself placing a worried hand on the devil´s shoulder, only to quickly remove it and hope the other hadn’t noticed.

Lucifer relaxed, gasped, and continued talking like nothing had happened. “I don´t get US Weekly or anything, but you can always practice runes on the floor once your nails get long enough, or recite the Bible, or, well, sleep. If you can. That,” he pointed out some spot on the metal floor, “could be your room.” 

Sam stared at him, dumbfounded.

Lucifer frowned. “I could try to get you a bed, but I can’t promise anything.”

The brunet couldn’t help it. He laughed. “No, it’s okay. Thanks for the floor space. I just- aren’t you gonna,” he waved his hands in a weak attempt of emphasis, “unleash your eternal rage on me for throwing you back in here?”

Lucifer smiled sympathetically. No, fake-sympathetically, because he was the devil and that’s what he felt: fake sympathy. “I _did_ promise I would never hurt you, remember? Regardless of whatever the Judeo-Christian culture says of me, I am a man of my word.”

“But that promise was worth something when I could still agree to you using me as a vessel and taking over the world. Down here, it doesn’t matter what I say or what happens to me. You lost, so now’s the part of the story where you torture me and stuff.”

“Sam, I wasn’t keeping you in one piece to “wear you to prom,” as your brother likes to say. I truly care about you and your well-being.” The devil shrugged nonchalantly. “We are, as you humans like to say, soulmates.”

Whoa, noooo, that term had a _completely different_ meaning. Sam quickly cleared his throat awkwardly. "Uh, I don’t think that’s the word you were looking for.” Wow, Winchester. Talk about lame. “I mean, not in this cont-” Not in _any_ context! “Not in our situation.”

Puzzlement clouded Lucifer’s icy blue gaze. It eerily reminded Sam of Cas. “It _is_ the correct word. We were made for each other, we are two halves of the same whole.”

“Yeah, but-” The hunter froze completely. Lucifer had just pushed a lock of Sam’s hair behind his ear. Lucifer. Arranged Sam’s hair. LUCIFER. _The devil just **randomly** **decided** to arrange Sam’s hair. _ And his hand was still hovering by his face, and was slowly drifting down to cup his jaw.

And the worst part?

Sam found himself incapable of stopping him.

“May I?” And it was obvious what he was asking, of course, because his fingers were ghosting over Sam’s cheek and the eye contact had been broken in favor of looking at Sam’s lips.

“Why do you ask? We are both stuck in here and you are a thousand times more powerful. You could practically rape me-”

“Just like I asked to enter your body,” Lucifer interrupted sharply, “and waited patiently for you to accept, I’m asking you this.”

“And you are just going to wait for me to say, Yeah, sure, we can kiss? Even though the answer right now is no and will surely never change?”

“Pretty much,” Lucifer replied and moved away, not even looking slightly rejected. Sam knew a girl or two that could learn a couple of things from this guy. And just like that, as if they had been discussing the weather, the conversation was over.

***

Days passed. Or at least they felt like days. Sam tried to sleep, but he only managed to get one hour per night, two, if he was lucky. Every once in a while, just as the devil had promised, an invisible form of torture would befall the Winchester. Fresh scars were starting to adorn his body, but most wounds re-opened the moment his unseen tormentors returned.

Adam… Adam was not in a good shape. It became obvious a few hours into their arrival that Michael had the upper hand most of the time, but it didn’t matter. The blond boy spent every second clawing at the walls and muttering, “Have to get out.” When his fingers started to bleed from the constant abuse, Sam tried to approach his brother and stop the assault that was causing more damage on the boy than on the cage, but was received with bulging, shifting eyes, and an unhuman hiss. 

Lucifer also seemed to be getting his share of eternal damnation. Most of the time he just suddenly clenched his teeth, jaw set, and closed his eyes. No sound slipped out of his lips, but as time passed, Sam began noticing how slowly the tough macho act was fading away. On the seventh night, right before Sam released his feeble grip on consciousness, he heard a soft gasp and a whimpered, “Father, please.” Next morning, when Sam opened his eyes (although he had been awake for hours), he saw the devil sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest and his head resting back on one of the walls. His brow was sweaty and he was trembling slightly.

Sam didn’t realize what his tired body was doing until he was sitting in front of the Morning Star. “Hey,” he muttered awkwardly.

Lucifer took a couple of deep breaths before lifting his head to look at Sam. “Mm,” he greeted.

“Tough night?” the brunet asked with a soft smile, but Lucifer’s frown wiped it away almost immediately. “Sorry.”

“Your cheek,” the devil informed, “That looks painful.” He was right. Sam had a nasty gash that went from his cheekbone to his chin, and it was throbbing constantly. “I could heal you, but-” Lucifer stopped midsentence and shook his head.

“You don’t want to make my life easier?”

Lucifer gave him a pointed we’ve-been-through-this look. “As sadistic as it sounds, already being in pain will dull any new agony. Healing you would leave you as good as new and it would be like giving them a new canvas to start over on.” He paused. “Plus, I-I don’t think my grace is strong enough to do something as thorough. Every atom of Hell is tearing it apart. My wings are probably a wreck by now, after all the time I’ve spent here.”

“Wings?” The question tumbled out of Sam’s tongue before he could stop it.

“Wings. I’m an angel.” The “how many times do I have to repeat that” was implied. 

They were both quiet after that. Sam noted that the less distractions Lucifer had, the more on edge he acted. It was like talking to Sam made his pain fade away. In a random act of sympathy for the devil, Sam asked, “How do they look like?”

The Morning Star didn’t even hesitate before affirming with a smile, “Big, pink, and glittery.” Sam snorted. “Hey, don’t laugh!”

“Oh, you’re _serious_?!”

“Of course I’m serious!”

“Pink and _glittery_?!”

“Yes!”

“Do they come with a tiara and a little wand with a star on top?”

“Now you’re just being rude!”

Sam fell to his side, laughing, and Lucifer threw out his lip in a childish pout, which only made the hunter laugh harder until his stomach hurt.  When he finally regained control of himself, the brunet sat up and sighed. Lucifer stared at him with his arms crossed over his chest, but the small smile tugging at the sides of his mouth betrayed him. “Hey, c’mon, don’t be mad,” Sam teased, and the devil finally smiled. “It makes your forehead get all frowny,” said his mouth while his brain screamed, “What am I even saying?!”

“None of us know what you are saying anymore, Sam. Don’t worry,” Lucifer assured him. Before Sam could argue that his thoughts were out-of-bounds for the devil, the Morning Star laughed. It was a deep chuckle and made the sides of his eyes crinkle, and was basically nothing like Sam expected it to be. The hunter hadn’t realized he was staring until Lucifer’s laughter slowly disappeared, leaving behind a soft smile behind.

Sam blushed and looked away, but he still felt the two unearthly blue orbs on him. He felt transparent under the devil’s gaze. Heck, he probably was and Lucifer was reading him like a book.

“Sam…”

“No,” he said firmly. At least not yet, a dark corner of his mind added. Lucifer probably heard that, too.

“You still don’t trust me,” the Archangel stated bitterly, not doubting a word. “I am willing to give you everything and more, but hey, you know what they say. A religious brainwash is something that sticks throughout your whole life.”

“I’m sorry your feelings are hurt, Satan.”

 “I’m sorry your weak will was bent towards a false description of what’s good and what’s bad, human.”

Sam huffed, “It’s nice to be able to lay our feelings bare.”

“Yeah, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.”

Apparently, laughing at the devil’s sarcastic remarks was becoming a habit for Sam Winchester.

***

His ears pounded. His brain was slowly shutting down.

Sam coughed violently, and he wasn’t sure the blood he was tasting came from his damaged lungs or his wounded face. He felt sticky with sweat and blood from the waist up, and he knew the feeling wasn’t reaching his legs simply because he couldn’t feel them _at all_. The hunter wheezed and gingerly opened his blood-caked eyelids. Two familiar blue eyes swam in his blurred vision.

“Sam? Sam, c’mon, stay with me. Don’t leave me.” The devil paused and added hesitantly, “Please.”

“I can’t go anywhere, silly,” the brunet slurred, “I’m already dead. Tomorrow I’ll wake up and we’ll continue talking about your fairy wings. You’ll see.” He lowered his voice. Talking was too much work. “You’ll see, Luce.”

“No, Sam, that’s not what I mean. You’re-“

“Y’know something? I did the math. It wasn’t hard. You… you said religious brainwash was something that sticks throughout your whole life. That’s one life.  One single life.”

“Sam, you are not making any sense.”

“Right. Sense. Here’s some sense: My life ended when I jumped in here. That’s one life ending. One life ending equals one brainwash ending. This is a new, brainwash-free, eternal life.” The hunter smiled. No, no smiling. Smiling hurts more than talking. “Sure, we are in pain most of the time, but that’s nothing because we are a ‘we’. And your stupid sarcasm makes me forget that most of my ribs are broken beyond repair. And your stupid smile makes me trust you.” Sam shifted his arm a bit, searching. He found what he was looking for and let his hand tangle in the coolness of Lucifer’s fingers.

“Don’t go,” Lucifer mumbled.

“Shhhh,” the Boy King whispered, his eyes growing heavy. “I’m just going to sleep, Luce. Lemme sleep and tomorrow we’ll talk and you’ll laugh because I think your laugh is beautiful. ‘Kay?”

Lucifer nodded, although he knew Sam couldn’t see him. “Yeah,” Lucifer muttered, although he knew Sam couldn’t hear him.

 

Rain sprayed his face and grass tickled his back as Sam Winchester awoke back on Earth, strong, healthy, and most importantly, free.

***

Sam closed the ancient book when he finished the ritual. “We need your help!” Nothing. “ _I_ need your help! Please. It’s Dean. He’s… he’s a demon. And I’ve heard- I _know_ you can turn him back.” The hunter sighed and rubbed his eyes. He had just freed the devil into the world (again) and _obviously_ the first thing the Morning Star was going to do was help Sam’s brother. Yeah, that sounded about right. “I’m sorry, Dean,” he whispered to no one. “I tried.”

“Sam,” a voice behind him said. “Long time no see.”

Without missing a beat, the hunter spun around and captured the devil’s lips, humming happily when the other kissed back immediately.

“Tell me about it.”


End file.
